“My desire for 2012 has always been to get back into the seat of a Formula 1 car so I am grabbing this opportunity with both hands,” said D’Ambrosio. “Monza is a fantastic circuit and I can?óÔé¼Ôäót wait to take to the track on Friday.

“As third driver I have worked with the team at every Grand Prix, attending all the briefings and meetings that the race drivers do, so I am well prepared in this respect. Monza is a superb circuit, but it is also quite a technical one so I am not underestimating the task ahead of me.

“I want to reward the faith that the team has in me with a good haul of points from the race. I will hand the wheel back to Romain after Sunday?óÔé¼Ôäós race and I hope that this one showing in Italy will allow me to show my capabilities fully.”

Team principal Eric Boullier said: “When we signed Jerome as our third driver we signed a man who is highly motivated, fresh, talented and who contested the full 2011 season. We hope that this will pay dividends when he drives the car this weekend in Monza.

“We know that Jerome is well integrated into the team and that he did a good job when he drove the E20 at the Mugello test. Now he has the challenge of a Grand Prix at the challenging circuit of Monza, in a car which is capable of finishing on the podium.

“One thing is for sure, he?óÔé¼Ôäós half Italian and I think I know which driver the spectators will support apart from Fernando! It?óÔé¼Ôäós a tough task for Jerome, but we will be supporting him in every way to achieve a good result.”

As I understand, there was an earlier press release, which Autosport got first. But then the release disappeared, and Autosport had to pull their article. When it was re-released by Lotus, Autosport just wasn’t able to re-publish in time.

Nothing. He scores points, and then Grosjean gets back into the car for Singapore. The only way d’Ambrosio is going to keep the seat is if he puts in some phenomenal performance that makes keeping Romain Grosjean a totally unattractive prospect, and given Grosjean’s regular points finishes, and less-regular-but-still-happening podiums, he would have to do a lot to impress enough to keep the seat.

I’d be very surprised if Jerome does anything spectacular. As excited as he’ll be for any chance to race again, you gotta feel quite sorry for him in a way. In these modern times without testing, a one-off drive is pretty much the worst possible scenario you can find yourself in. You need so many races just to get on the pace after all that time off, and he’ll have one.

Although he’ll not be happy with it, I personally will be perfectly impressed and convinced he’s done a solid job if he can manage to qualify solidly in the midfield, around the 6th or 7th row, and score a point. That’s about what I predict.

Although a one off drive is tough, I think Monza is probably the ideal track because setting up the car is probably straightforward compared to many other circuits. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep close to Kimi’s pace and give a good account of himself.

The sensible choice. D’Ambrosio is a decent driver who knows the team and the car, and there’s very little time to prepare another driver anyway (and they will be running the Device). Of course, it might have been more interesting for some of us fanatics if a driver like Bottas or Alguersuari had been put in the car, but I think any driver would have a hard time scoring points this Sunday at Monza. The grid is pretty close, and I think the cars are difficult to drive around low-downforce Monza anyway. Still, best of luck to Jerome.

That makes sense. Monza is, after all, the circuit with the lowest downforce on the calendar. Running the double-DRS device does not make sense, not unless Lotus intended to run their downforce levels at a higher-than-average level the way Jenson Button did in 2010 – but they can’t. When Button did it in 2010, he had full control over the F-duct at every minute. The double-DRS device, however, can only be freely used in qualifying and in set zones in the race. Running higher levels of downforce will only do more harm than good.

Actually, although described by some as a Double DRS, the Device is a passive system which is triggered by air pressure. It therefore works above a certain speed, and operates even outside the designated DRS zone provided the car is going fast enough.

No surprises here. It was never gonna be someone else. Sure D’Ambrosio is unlikely to be in the cards for a very strong finish but, let’s face it, no one will require him to do exactly that.

Damage limitation will be in effect here for Lotus and, if D’Ambrosio manages to somehow help Raikkonen in his title pursuit, gather valuable data for the engineers regarding both the tyres, the setup for quali and race and the DDRS gimmick and on top of that score a point or two (which could be his first in F1 as well) counting towards the WCC, I think everyone here and at Lotus will agree he’s done his job very well.

Anyway, it’s gonna be very interesting to watch how he handles that Lotus in terms of pace, compared to what Raikkonen and Grosjean are generally capable of in that car.

@tony031r Interesting … I would add to the objectives be in front of Massa would be very ncie as Lotus and Ferrari are very close, would be great to cover Massa.
And indeed the most important is him getting back into the car and bringing data to the team, after this is bonus. But what’s nice with this car and switch is that he can almost finish anywhere from first to last, that makes it exciting (added to the fact that I’m belgian ^^ )

Good point, I’m very surprised that Karthikeyan has lasted this long – I mean, he didn’t last year. Actually the class of 2012 seems notably better than 2011, because there are no drivers really screaming out to be replaced, excluding Karthikeyan obviously.

Isn’t Karthikeyan pretty much single-handedly funding HRT through his sponsorship / technical deals? (hence their lack of sponsors compared to Marussia / Caterham) I don’t see him being dropped any time soon unless someone comes up with a real wad of cash.

I know it will be stupid not to and lose any constructors points he might pick up, but was just wondering whether it is mandatory to enter two cars per team or is there a leeway to skip one in case of driver bans such as this

To used a third driver, this had has to take part in at least one practice… since Timo only got sick on sunday nad they have not run another driver neither saturday or friday they can only run with Pic…

Looking at the comments above, it was just me that saw a rather handy driver in d’Ambrosio. Obviously, he’s not on the level of Raikkonen, or Grosjean for that matter, but he’s a consistant, measured and intelligent racing driver who is exceptional at looking after his tyres, all essential qualities in 2012. OK, he is notably lacking in raw speed, so he’s not going to get pole position, but I expect him to finish deeply in points. I’m rather excited really, I thought Virgin dumped him prematurely, and now we get a chance to see what he can do in a “proper” car, a car that has an excellent chance of winning the GP for that matter.

“the leading contender is, for obvious reasons, Jerome dâ€™Ambrosio”
“While it would be good to see some of the ex F1 drivers, Jerome d’Ambrosio is the most probable”
“At first glance, I think Jerome dâ€™Ambrosio is the only driver who makes sense.”
“There probably isnâ€™t enough time for Lotus to get anyone other than dâ€™Ambrosio into the car”
“dâ€™Ambrosio is their third driver, this kind of situation is what heâ€™s there for.”

So I’m not really sure why you’re claiming to have called it first. I’m even less sure why you feel the need to brag about it.

A sensible choice from Lotus and it shows that they actually have confidence in their driver line-up. I don’t think they’re well blessed with any other choices to be honest (they burned their bridges with Heidfeld when they ditched him) but a smart move nonetheless.